A Party
by quantum1342
Summary: Shion is going to a committee banquet and somehow managed to get Nezumi to come with him.
1. A Party

"We're going to Mom's," Shion announced when Nezumi got home.

"Yeah, yeah," Nezumi said and lazily wandered into the kitchen to find himself some food. It had been a long day. Then the Shion's words connected. If they were going to Karan's, he wouldn't need any food. She would stuff them both silly. But more importantly, "Why?"

But Shion wasn't paying attention. He was just pacing around the room, rambling to himself. Nezumi rolled his eyes.

"... so I think she would still have my old suit... I hope it still fits me okay... But it should, 'cause the last time I wore it wasn't all that long ago..."

Nezumi stuck his head out of the kitchen. "What are you going on about suits for?" he asked. He was pretty sure that reason would be stupid, but he thought it might be good to know, on the off chance that it wasn't.

"Oh! Well, there's this banquet for the committee tonight and, well it's more of a cocktail party I guess, but anyway, it's a black tie event so I need to get my old suit from Ma and― Wait!" The boy cut himself off. "You should come with me!" Shion looked about ready to pee himself from excitement.

"Ah- no."

"Oh, come on! Please?"

Nezumi was determined not to make eye contact with Shion. He was afraid that if he did, he might just give in. Instead, he picked up a random book off the floor. "I said no." He sat down in the nearest chair and started to read.

Shion plopped down on Nezumi's lap, pushing the top at the book down and so he could look right into Nezumi's eyes. Why were those red eyes always so… Well, going to some stupid party couldn't hurt, could it? Yes. It could. But he needed to find a good excuse, otherwise he would give in to those red eyes. "I don't have anything to wear," is what he came up with. Good. An excuse, but still not enough to lead anyone into thinking that he was interested.

Apparently Shion didn't see it that way. The boy leapt up off of Nezumi's lap. "Yey! I knew you would!"

"You didn't know anything," Nezumi grumbled.

Shion ignored him. "And clothing won't be a problem, I'm sure mom has something that will fit you!"

Nezumi was disgruntled that Shion had so easily shot down what he had thought was a pretty solid excuse. "If you really expect me to just tag along with you to some work party—"

"You wouldn't just be tagging along," Shion interjected. "You would be… you know… going _with_ me."

"It's the same thing." Nezumi went back to his book. He didn't have time for this. He had to think about important things, like dinner. If Shion was going to be out, he would only need to cook for himself. He could make something _he_ wanted for a change.

"It's not the same thing," Shion whined in the background. "All of the other committee members are married, so they are going to bring their wives, and I had thought I was going to be the only one without a date. But if you go with me…"

Nezumi looked up, sharply. Did Shion just say… a date? Never mind, best to just ignore him. "Airhead," he muttered, and went back to his book.

"What's so stupid about that?"

Nezumi wondered if he would ever get the chance to read. Probably not until Shion left for his fancy party.

He looked up from his book. "Hm?" he asked, pretending as though he had no idea what Shion was talking about.

"I said I wanted to go on a date with you!" Shion blurted.

"What?"

"We never do normal dates..." Shion was mumbling now, seemingly embarrassed buy his outburst.

"What about us seems normal to you?" Nezumi asked, slightly irritated that Shion was trying to guilt him. Very irritated that it was working. But Shion didn't seem to hear him, and had recovered form his earlier embarrassment.

"And it's not like it would just be one-on-one or anything, it's a banquet! So there will be a lot of people there and it would be less weird for me to go with you than if I went alone and I really really want you to come so—"

"Fine."

Shion stopped talking and looked at Nezumi. "Really?"

"Yeah, really. If you can find me something to wear, then I guess..."

"Yey!" Shion tackled Nezumi in what was probably supposed to be a hug. Nezumi rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe he had agreed to this, and sincerely hoped that Karan wouldn't be able to find a suit for him. But, knowing her, if she couldn't find one, she would probably just give Shion money to go rent one for him. _This should be interesting._

The familiar door chime rang as Shion opened the door to Karan's Bakery. He stood there, in the doorway, and breathed in the air. He could smell bread baking in the oven, and was overcome with a wave of nostalgia. Less than a year ago, he had been living here. The smell of fresh baked bread permeating the air was not a strange one; the room would seem weirder without it. He could remember some of Karan's regular customers, and the small children that had loved both him and his mother.

He heard Karan's voice from the back call out, "I'll be with you in just a second!" at about the same time as he felt a force on his back, pushing him forward.

"Get out of the doorway, you're blocking the entrance." It was of course Nezumi, who had been irritable the entire walk over. The entire day, actually. Shion stepped aside to let Nezumi through, who didn't wait quite long enough and barged right into Shion on his way to one of the chairs, which he promptly flopped into. Shion gingerly sat down next to him.

Shion was about to ask him if he was okay when Karan came in. "Ahh, sorry about that!" she said, smiling. "How can I help y- Oh! Shion!"

Shion smiled back at her. "Hey, Ma." He stood up and she hugged him warmly.

"And Nezumi, too!" She was clearly excited to see them, and pulled Nezumi into their hug before releasing them both. Shion knew that he didn't see her nearly enough, and felt bad about it, but what could he do? The limited amount of time he was able to spend in the city all went to the committee. "Why didn't you boys tell me you were coming over? I would have made a better dinner! I haven't got anything interesting today, I'm afraid. "

"That's okay Ma, we're not staying for dinner anyway. Sorry," he added upon seeing her expression. "I have this committee banquet tonight and I need to get my old suit. Is it still in the same place, or..."

"No, I moved it to the back closet. How are you boys on furniture by the way? I've been cleaning out your room so that I can maybe rent it out, so you can have anything you want from there. Do you need a dresser, or I could give you the bed..."

"No, Ma, really, we're fine!" Shion wanted to stop his mom before she got much farther down that path. He was pretty sure that she knew that he and Nezumi were... whatever they were, but he didn't really want her thinking about them sharing a bed. "Actually, um, do you have a suit that might fit Nezumi?"

She thought about it. "You know, actually I might. Hold on," she said, then disappeared into the back.

Nezumi elbowed him. "You should've taken the dresser," he said. "There's no room for my stuff in the one we have. Your shit takes up too much space."

"Oh, so it's _my _shit that takes up to much space? You have more than me! And while we're at it, how come it's only shit when its mine?"

"If it's mine its stuff, and if it's yours it's shit. Whatever you want to call it, you still have too much."

"It's not my fault if I won't let you keep your stuff in my drawers."

"First off, that sounds inappropriate. Really, Shion, we're at your mom's." Shion opened his mouth to protest that he hadn't meant it like that, but Nezumi didn't stop long enough to give him time. "And secondly, I have all of my Eve stuff, so I have twice as much clothes as you! Therefore, I deserve more space."

"I don't see why you don't just keep your dresses and makeup at the theater instead of back home."

"What, and let it all get covered in dust?"

"It won't get covered in dust if you use them every day, which you do. Stop being such a drama queen."

"I'm not a—" Nezumi started when Karan popped her head around the corner.

"Why don't you boys come in here? You don't need to stay out in the shop like strangers. Come on in!" They looked at each other briefly, then followed her into the main house. Shion was feeling much happier now that Nezumi had cheered up. It seemed that some good banter was all that he needed.

Karan had Shion's suit laid out across one of the chairs, and was sifting through the closet looking for things that would fit Nezumi. She finally found the part she was looking for, and grabbed the other parts off of the couch. She shoved them all into Nezumi's hands. "Here, try these on." She then grabbed his shoulders, turned him around, and propelled him into the bathroom.

Shion looked on in amazement. "How did you do that? You just got him to do exactly what you wanted! He didn't even complain!"

She grinned back at him. "Didn't you know that moms have special powers?"

"Yeah," he said. "I did know that." Then he hugged her, and picked up his own suit and went up to his room to change.

Shion was already changed when Nezumi stepped out of the bathroom holding his normal clothes in one hand. "How does it fit?" Karan asked.

"A little snug..." he said, attempting to hold his arms straight out in front of him and not really getting anywhere.

"Is it the jacket that's too tight, or the shirt?"

Nezumi tested his fairly restricted range of motion in a few more ways and said, "Not really sure. It's pretty bad though."

"Stop doing that, you're going to tear it," Shion said.

Nezumi turned to him, a smile playing about on his lips. "Well don't you look sharp, Shion-_sama_."

Shion rolled his eyes. Well, at least Nezumi hadn't called him...

"Although I would have thought something so simple would be below your standards, your highness."

Shion glared at him, and Nezumi just laughed. To his surprise, Karan laughed too.

"Here," she said, holding out a different jacket. "See if this makes a difference."

Nezumi nodded, and attempted to pull off the jacket he was wearing, but his range of motion was so restricted by the tight clothes that he couldn't reach it properly. Shion sighed and stood up.

"Turn around," he said. "You're not going to be able to get it yourself."

"As you wish, my prince," said Nezumi. He'd probably only said it to irritate Shion, and it was working. And Shion could have sworn that he saw the other boy wink at him as he turned around. Shion pulled off the jacket and Nezumi instantly took a huge breath.

"It was the jacket," he said to Karan, who had been watching the entire time with a bemused expression on her face.

She offered the new one to him again. "Try this one."

He nodded and took it from her, and put it on. He looked a lot more comfortable, Shion noted, and his range of motion was good. "I'd say this fits," he told Karan.

She smiled. "Good. Now we'll need to find you each a tie, and Nezumi, you can't have your hair like that."

"W-What?"

"What do you think we could do with it?" Karan asked Shion.

He looked at Nezumi for a minute. "We could put his hair in a low ponytail if we can get his bangs out of his face," he suggested.

Karan nodded. "I was thinking something similar."

"W-Wait!" Nezumi was looking back and forth between them. "What is wrong with my hair?!" He seemed genuinely concerned.

"Relax," said Shion. "We're not going to cut it or anything. Though that would make things easier..."

"No! You're not cutting my hair! I need it long for work! I need it so you can't cut it!"

"I said I wasn't going to. "

"I don't trust you."

"You've said." Shion's tone shifted from joking to hard. Even though Nezumi hadn't really meant it, it still hurt him that there was a possibility that Nezumi didn't trust him.

"Alright!" Karan stepped in to fill the following silence, cutting off Nezumi's attempt to comfort Shion before he even had a chance to start. "We'll do that then. Nezumi, you come with me so I can deal with your hair. Shion, could you see if you could find ties? They're probably all on the floor of the closet, I'm afraid…"

Shion nodded. "Yeah." He watched in amazement as his mom dragged Nezumi to the bathroom for a second time. _She really does have special powers,_ he thought. Then he turned to the closet to find ties like he was told.

By the time Nezumi and Karan emerged from the bathroom, Shion had only found one tie. He heard them come into the room and turned to face them. He had seen Nezumi both with his hair up and with his hair down, but never with his hair back. He'd never seen him with his bangs out of his face, giving him full view of Nezumi's eyes. They were stunning. Every time Shion saw them, they were just as breathtaking.

"Quit gawking," Nezumi said, though Shion knew he enjoyed the attention. "Did you find a tie, or were you in here fantasizing about me the whole time?" Shion shot him a look. His mom was right there!

"I only found one…"

"Really?" asked Karan. "I thought that there was more than one in there. Hold on." She went over to the closet and pulled out a black bowtie. "See? I told you there was more than one."

"I never said there wasn't," said Shion. "But that doesn't look like a normal tie to me."

"It's not," said Karan. "It's a bowtie." Just then, the doorbell to the shop rang. "I have to go deal with that," she said. "Be right back!" Then she left the room to go help her customer.

"You're the one wearing that," Nezumi said shortly. It was not open for debate.

"Uhh, okay," said Shion. He didn't see how it mattered, but knew it was best to not argue with Nezumi. He pulled it around his neck and started to try and tie it, but he had no idea how it worked.

"You have no idea how to tie that, do you?" Nezumi asked. He watched Shion struggle a bit more, then walked over to him. "It's not that hard. You just tie the ends together like this, and then you fold this part, then put this side over it, then you just stick side that through here." He did the steps as he said them. "See?"

"Yeah, but it's all lopsided…"

"Of course it is," Nezumi said quietly and took half a step closer to Shion. He reached up and adjusted the tie so that it was even. "There." Shion reached up and put his hands around Nezumi's neck, trying to pull him closer, but Nezumi stepped away. "Now, now," he chided softly, "We're at your mother's. And after she just put all that effort into doing my hair, we can't have you go messing it up." Shion sighed. Nezumi was right, of course.

"You need to put your tie on, too," he said.

"Yeah, yeah," said Nezumi. He picked up the tie and tied it quickly. Show-off. But he hadn't tightened it up all the way. Shion stepped closer to Nezumi and tightened the tie, sliding the knot up to his neck. They were close again. This time, Nezumi's lips did brush his own, for a fraction of a second.

Such a simple touch, but it was enough to take his breath away. Tiny pinpricks of sensation started at the point of contact and spread throughout his whole body, sending shivers down his spine. He thought he might disappear, if it weren't for Nezumi's arms around him.

The taller boy stepped away just in time for Karan to walk in. "Oh!" she said. "Don't you two look nice!"

"Thank you, Karan," said Nezumi. Shion was still semi-paralyzed, and was putting all of his effort into trying not to blush. It was harder than it sounded, and he didn't trust himself to speak. He just nodded.

Then the clock caught his eye, bringing him back to reality. "Ah! That late already? Oh no, we're going to be late! Sorry Ma, we have to go." He hugged her and she gave him a kiss on the cheek, and told them to have fun.

"We will!" Shion called over his shoulder as he grabbed Nezumi's wrist and dragged him out of the doorway.

They didn't say a word to each other on the way home from the party. Nezumi walked next to Shion in a somewhat tense silence. He didn't know how Shion would react to what had happened. The fact that he wasn't talking at all meant that he was probably upset. Or mad. Or disappointed.

But what did he care? He wasn't supposed to have feelings like this. He wasn't supposed to care if somebody else was disappointed in him. But he was supposed to. He knew he was, but he still couldn't quite shake the feeling that emotions, especially affection, were dangerous.

They were at the apartment now. He rummaged around in his pocket, finding the key. He unlocked the door and held it open for Shion, then followed him into the small space.

Shion flicked on a light and took a seat on the couch. Nezumi sat down in one of the chairs, facing him. They looked at each other for a moment.

"Well," said Nezumi. "That could've gone better."

To his surprise, Shion actually laughed. "Yeah," he said, "But it could have gone a lot worse!"

"I don't really see how."

Shion thought about this. "Well…" he said eventually. "I didn't get fired."

"Yet."

Shion chuckled again. He would never cease to surprise Nezumi. "It wasn't really all that bad…"

"Yes it was."

"How so?"

"Did you forget already? Here, let's recap." Nezumi was annoyed that Shion needed him to describe the disaster that had been the committee banquet. "First, I almost got punched in the face by some guy for telling him that I'm Eve, which he saw as 'disrespectful' or something, then I cut in line at the buffet table. After that—"

"You're forgetting how you spilled all the food everywhere," Shion added mildly.

"Yes! Right!" Nezumi was basically yelling at this point. "And after all of that, I insulted your boss-"

"How were you supposed to know he was my boss?"

"-pissed off all your remaining coworkers-" he was standing up now.

"They're all oversensitive anyway."

"-got into a fight with some guy who nobody even _knew_-"

"Yeah, nobody really did know who he was, did we?"

"-and in the end, we both ended up getting kicked out for being gay!" he threw his hands up in the air in exasperation, then turned away from Shion, staring silently at the wall. He didn't want to look at the other boy. He didn't want to see when Shion realized that he was right, that the entire thing had been a total disaster. Why hadn't he just said no…?

Nezumi felt a hand on his arm. Even if they hadn't been the only two people in the room, he would've known who it was just from the touch. "You're really upset by this, aren't you?"

"Tsk. Who says I'm upset?"

"Normally you wouldn't care. Normally, you'd laugh at those guys for being idiots. But you're yelling about what happened. You are really upset by it. Why?"

It irritated Nezumi that Shion could see right through him. Of course he wasn't working very hard at hiding his mood swings that night, but Shion could always see through him. No matter how hard he tried to hide what he was thinking, Shion could always figure it out eventually.

"It's nothing," was all he could come up with. He did want to explain this to Shion, he really did. But he was still hesitant to show his emotions. He still hid behind his mask.

"Really? Is it really nothing?"

"Yeah, I just…" Shion was going to keep pressing gently. Nezumi wished he was better at expressing himself to this boy. "You were all excited to go to this thing, and it was supposed to be fun, and…" it all came out like one long sigh. But not an actual sigh, of course. And yet, the more he thought about it, the more irritated with himself that he got. This was supposed to be something special for Shion, a date, as the boy had put it. And yet, Nezumi had managed to screw it up. He knew Shion wouldn't be mad at him, but that would only make it worse.

Shion gently pulled on his arm, turning him back around. He did not resist, allowing him self to be pulled around so that he was facing the white-haired boy. Shion was looking at him with concern. Even now, this made him uncomfortable. He didn't like having people concerned for him. At least, that's what he told himself.

"And what?"

He hated that Shion was so understanding, that there was no hostility. He hated that he could do or say anything, and Shion would tell him it was okay. Nezumi hated that he could completely ruin something and Shion would pretend not to care. He hated it. And yet, all of these thing that he hated, they were the things that made him feel… the way he did towards Shion. The things that made Nezumi so drawn to him.

"This was supposed to be something special for you, and I screwed it up. I ruined the entire party."

Shion nodded. "Yeah, you did."

Nezumi couldn't believe him. After all that had happened, he'd just said 'yeah, you did?' Nezumi had been sure that the boy would be disappointed. He knew that Shion would be upset that the party hadn't gone well.

"But…" Shion added. Nezumi looked at him, waiting for him to be upset. "I don't mind."

"Don't lie to me."

"But I'm not lying. I mean it."

"Seriously…" Nezumi started to turn away again, but Shion held him back. "After I screwed up the entire night…"

"But you didn't. You didn't screw everything up."

"What do you mean? It was horrible."

"No, it wasn't. You know why?"

Nezumi wasn't entirely sure he did. "Why?"

"Because," Shion took half a step closer to Nezumi. "Even though we pissed off everybody at the party," he started playing with Nezumi's tie. "Even after everything that happened, it still turned out to be a lot more fun than I would've had on my own."

Nezumi was willing to admit that without him there, things certainly wouldn't have been as eventful, but he was still skeptical. "Everything? Even at the end, when they found out about… about us?"

"Nezumi…"

"You know it's not going to be the same for you now. Now that they know, they won't let you live this down. They've put that label on you…"

"I don't care. It doesn't matter to me how they think of me. I'm happy that I'm with you. You don't know how happy it makes me that you could have anybody in the world, and yet you chose me. If anything they said gets to me, it'll get to me in a good way. The fact that they were calling us out on it proves to me that I'm not just imagining what we are."

He was amazed. How could Shion just come out and say stuff like that? Nezumi would never understand. "But I still screwed everything up. I still managed to take something that was supposed to be fun and-"

"This isn't about any of that. Not the party, not the other committee members. I couldn't care less about them." Shion moved even closer. They were inches apart. "What I wanted was to spend the night with you."

Nezumi was shocked. He should have expected such a corny line from Shion, but it still caught him by surprise. Of course this feeling didn't last very long, as Shion moved even closer and finally closed the gap between them.

The kiss was long and passionate. Nezumi never ceased to be surprised by Shion. Every time the boy kissed him, he was surprised by his own feelings. No kiss had ever made him feel the way he did when he was with Shion.

Shion eventually released him. "Well," he whispered into the boy's ear, "I can certainly make that happen."

"Oh really," Shion returned quietly, pulling out of Nezumi's embrace. He slowly walked over to the bed. "You know it's getting kind of warm in here," Shion said, pulling at his bowtie. "Maybe you could help me take this off?"

Nezumi grinned as he crossed the room to join Shion. He leaned in, as if to kiss him, but turned his head at the last second, so that his mouth was right next to Shion's ear. "It would be my pleasure."


	2. Deleted Scene

**A/N: **As I was writing the actual party sequence, there was nothing that I was doing that made me happy with it. Eventually i decided to just scrap the whole thing and go into the ending part without showing the party itself. I never finished this scene, but this is about as far as i got and i figured fi the movies get to show deleted scenes, then so do i.

Nezumi stood bored next to Shion as the boy introduced him to the fourth – or was it the fifth? – committee member in as many minutes. He waited until Shion stopped talking about whatever this man did to help with the committee and offered a lame, "Nice to meet you," as they shook hands. He wished he was back home with his book and his nice little dinner that he was going to make for himself.

"Naito-san is the youngest member of the committee, apart from myself," said Shion. Nezumi couldn't care less.

Naito laughed. "Shion, really, we know each other better than last names. Call me Fumio." He turned to Nezumi. "And that goes for you, too. You must be a pretty good friend of Shion's, to come here with him. It gets boring for me, and I know everybody!"

The man certainly was young; he must've been in his early twenties. He was relatively good-looking, too, for an office worker. Of course, Nezumi realized, Shion was an office worker as well, but then he was the exception to every rule, wasn't he?

"Yeah," Nezumi said. He wasn't very interested in meeting new people. Especially stuffy office workers.

Naito laughed again. Nezumi hated how he used that annoying laugh so freely. This man was almost worse than Shion. Well, maybe not, but still. "You don't talk much, do you?" Nezumi saw nothing wrong with confirming this.

Naito waited for him to respond, but, getting nothing, continued his conversation with Shion. "So, did you see the show last night?"

"No, I had to work late. By the time I got home, the show would have been halfway over."

"You missed a good one!"

"I wish I could have made it," said Shion. Nezumi wondered what they meant and hoped that they weren't talking about what he thought they were. The two talked more about office politics, and other boring crap when two girls entered the conversation.

"Aki!" Shion said to the older of the two, and she hugged him. She looked about the same age as that Naito guy. As she pulled away, he caught her wrist. "Is that an engagement ring?" he asked. She blushed, and as did Naito. She walked over to the office worker and put her arm around his waist. "When?" Shion asked, excited to learn about these people's personal lives. Nezumi didn't understand why.

"Last week," said Naito. He still had quite a bit of color in his cheeks.

"Congratulations! When is the wedding?"

"We'll send you an invite as soon as we know!" said the woman.

"Oh!" said Shion. "What am I thinking? Aki, Sayuri, this is Nezumi. Nezumi, this is Aki," he motioned to the woman wrapped around Naito, "and Sayuri," pointing to the other girl. She looked to be about eighteen. Nezumi wondered what a girl so young was doing here.

"Your name's Nezumi?" Sayuri asked, taking a step towards him. "Is it a nickname or something?" She wasn't being disrespectful, but she was being a little too friendly, in Nezumi's opinion.

"No," he said shortly, and left it there. He wanted to shut her down before she could get too obvious about hitting on him. Apparently she didn't understand that concept. Looking at her, he could tell that she didn't get refused very often.

"So," said Naito. "Do you ever go to the theater?"

_I hate this,_ he thought. _I really do._ "Yeah. I go all the time."

"Oh really? I've never seen you."

_Yes you have._ "I work there."

"Oh, so like, cleaning up and stuff? Do you know the actors?" Naito seemed to be getting more and more excited.

Nezumi decided that, while he was here, he might as well have some fun. His tone shifted to more closely match that of the excited committee member. "Yeah, I do. Pretty well, in fact. I spent a lot of time back stage…"

"So do you know Eve?" Naito seemed really excited. "What's she like when not onstage?"

"Well, the first thing you should know is that she's actually…" Nezumi started to answer, but Shion swooped in and cut him off.

"Sorry," he said. "But I need to go talk to one of the guys over there. And if I leave him alone, he might just burn down the building!"

As soon as Shion had pulled him far enough away, he stopped and turned to face him. "Nezumi…"

"What? I was just starting to enjoy myself. Why'd you pull me away?"

"I just think it would be better if he actually thought Eve was a girl. We talk a lot about your shows, including his fantasies about what you must be like. I need him on my side; I can't have him upset at me because I didn't tell him about you."

Nezumi nodded. "Fair enough." Then he saw something, just out of the corner of his eye. "Is that a buffet table?"

Shion grinned. "Yeah. Wanna get something to eat?"

"Hell yes."

There was a line of people waiting to get the food. Nezumi found this to be completely idiotic. These people were so pampered, they just assumed that there would be enough for them once the people in front of them had had their pick. He elbowed his way to the front of the line and grabbed a plate, reaching around people at the table to get to the food he wanted. It had been a while since he had a chance to eat this much food. He could hear Shion saying something to him in the background but wasn't really paying attention. How could he, with so much food to choose from?

He eventually finished at the buffet table, vaguely wondering why everybody was looking at him like that, and found a seat at a table, which he sat down in. Shion sat down next to him. He didn't have a plate. "Aren't you going to get food?" Nezumi asked.

"No, because I'd have to wait in that long line and I know you wouldn't wait with me."

"I don't see why you have to wait. I didn't."

"Yeah. I know."

Nezumi shrugged and started eating. But as he did so, he could feel Shion's glare. "What are you upset about?" he asked, between mouthfuls.

Shion sighed, exasperated. "You're supposed to wait in line! When you see a line like that, you wait in it. You don't just cut in front of people!"

Nezumi's fork hovered in midair and he looked at Shion quizzically. "Why?"

"Because! That's just what you do." Nezumi put his fork back down onto his plate. "You wait in line because the people that got there first deserve to get their food first."

"But how can you guarantee that there will be enough left for you, if you wait?"

"They keep cooking it and bringing the food out. We're in the city, remember?"

Nezumi shrugged. It did kind of make sense, he supposed, but he didn't quite see what Shion was so worked up about. "Here. Try this. I dunno what it is, but it's good." He jammed his fork into Shion's mouth.

"Wha-" Shion managed around his mouthful. He swallowed and then said, "That's shrimp. You're lucky you didn't try to stuff the shell into my mouth. And we're not done talking about this!"

"I think we are. And if you think that you are going to share my food, you're wrong."

"Oh, come on, you have enough there to last a week!"

Nezumi gave him a territorial glare, and Shion sighed and sat up. "Try not to do any damage," he said.

Nezumi grinned. "Who, me? How could you even suggest such a thing?" He asked, sarcastically. Shion gave him another stern look, like one might give to a dog while saying 'stay.'

He watched Shion as he walked through the crowd of people to the end of the line. There were so many people here, it had to be more than just the committee members and their wives. He watched as Shion almost bumped into somebody, but ducked out of the way with an agility that Nezumi suspected could surpass his own. He was pretty sure that Shion thought of himself as inferior to Nezumi. But he respected Shion more than he would ever say. Ever _could_ say. He watched Shion until the white-haired boy was out of his line of sight, then turned back to his food.

He was face to face with an older man. Where the hell had he come from? He was about to yell at the man, to tell him to get the fuck out of his face, but remembered just in time that he was attending a high-class social function. He didn't want to cause trouble. "Can I help you with something?" he asked, pleasantly.

"Yes," said the man, with a much more forced pleasant tone. In fact, it was probably easier for the man to fake pleasantries, but Nezumi was a good actor. The best. "I was wondering how you got in here. Did you come in with someone?"

"Yes, believe it or not. I did." The man's smile faltered. Nezumi's never broke.

"May I ask who?"

"Ah, yes," Nezumi started dramatically. People like this were always a large source of entertainment. "I came with Shion." He could almost smell the smoke coming from the man's brain as he tried to think of a good response.

"Did he explain to you how a buffet table works?"

"Well, I know that you just take as much of whatever food you like. It really is amazing."

"Did you know you had to wait in line?" The man was practically grinding his teeth. This guy was great.

"Yeah, now that I think about it. He did mention something like that after I sat down."

The man fumed for a moment, then asked, "What is your name?"

"I was wondering when we'd get to that. I'm Nezumi."

"'Bout right," he heard the man mutter.

"What?" Nezumi asked. He softened his expression and tilted his head slightly to one side. The very picture if innocence. Something Shion would do. But he underscored it with a tone of 'don't fuck with me.'

"I said that is a very apt name indeed." This boldness surprised Nezumi somewhat, though he didn't show it. It had been a while since he had been able to be brutally sarcastic the way he used to in West Block.

"Where are your manners?" Nezumi asked. "I'd've thought an old man like you would have mastered them by now."

The man stood up. "Why, you…"

"Sit back down. Please. You're making a scene."

The man moved towards him and bent down, so he was looking right into Nezumi's face. He was close enough to smell his breath. It was probably supposed to be intimidating.

Nezumi put a hand up to his face. "Please, if you're going to get that close to somebody, at least have a breath mint or something first, jeez." The man looked even more pissed off at this. "And anyway, you're not my type, so I would appreciate it if you stopped hitting on me."

The man stepped back, flabbergasted. Nezumi leaned back in his chair, tilting it up onto the back legs, and put his feet up on the table. "Whew, haven't had that much bad breath in my face in a while. " He turned to the man. "Maybe that's why you couldn't get a girl, eh?"

"W-what?" The poor man was trying so hard not to yell. "I'm here with my wife!"

"Well than what were you flirting with me for?"

"I. Was. Not. Flirting. With. You." Nezumi had to stop himself from laughing. This guy was a hoot. When was he going to realize that he couldn't win?

"Okay, whatever you say." He waved a hand dismissively to the man, then sat back up and started to eat some more. The man continued to miserably fail to defend himself, but Nezumi didn't say another word to him. It was more amusing to just let him dig his own hole.

After a minute or so, the man realized that he had probably lost and just slunk away. That was at about the same time that Shion reappeared.

"Hey," he said, sitting down. "Was that Kurofuji-san? What was he doing here?"

"I dunno. Who is he?"

"Well, he's sort of my boss, I guess. He runs the committee."

"Oh."

"Why?"

"Nothing." They sat in silence for a moment. "I don't think he likes me much."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing really. He was the one getting all pissed off with me. I was just being myself."

"Oh no, that's the last thing we need," Shion muttered.

"What? You got a problem with me?" Nezumi asked, leaning just barely closer to Shion than the normal 'just friends' distance.

Shion shoved him over. "_I_ don't have a problem with you. It's everybody else that I'm worried about."


End file.
